High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The 2010 San Fernando massacre, also known as the first massacre of San Fernando, was the mass murder of 72 illegal immigrants by Los Zetas drug cartel in the village of El Huizachal in the municipality of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The 72 killed—58 men and 14 women—were mainly from Central and South America, and they were shot in the back of the head and then piled up together. The bodies were found inside a ranch on 24 August 2010 by the Mexican military after they engaged in an armed confrontation with members of a drug cartel. They received information of the place after an Ecuadorian survived a shot to the neck and face, faked his death, and then made his way out of the ranch and up to a military checkout to ask for help. There were only 3 survivors. Investigators later mentioned that the massacre was a result of the immigrants` inability to pay for the kidnappings and for refusing to work for Los Zetas.